Hiraya's Change: Birth of the Cold Empress

"That's why we need you, Hiraya. We need you to lead us", Lily pleaded.

Tears run down her eyes as they soaked her mouth which curved downwards. Her small face submerged into eternal suffering of losing her first companion, [Sage Turtle], and acquainted guild members years ago.

Hiraya met her pleading gaze as her head started to be assaulted by pain. What started as a pain from being pricked by a needle, grew into an agonizing pain of her head seemingly being squeezed by a large force.

Her body fell limped as her hand clutched her head in pain; her butt slid down the sofa as she involuntarily fell to the tiled floor. With a deafening shout of Lily waking her up and calling for help that echoed in her head as she twisted her body, hitting nearby objects as she kicked from pain, Hiraya lost consciousness.

Hours passed after that. In the same room, Hiraya lay on an assembled bed as her eyelids twitched. Her chest contracted and expand as she took a ragged breath. Unearthing her blue eyes as her eyelids run upwards, three women; their eyes filled with worries, filled her sight.

"Hiraya, are you okay now?", Lily's warm voice pierced Hiraya's ears as she toughly dragged her spine upwards, sitting on the large bed whilst being supported by Lily and the woman who tamed the healing butterfly.

"Does your head still hurt, Empress?", asked the vice-captain as she watched Hiraya fall in trance, her gaze stuck on her quivering hands.

Lily tapped her shoulder as she glanced at the woman opposite her with a massive butterfly levitating behind her as it flapped its wings mid-air.

"Ms. Sunshine, why is she still like this?", Lily asked as she rub Hiray's back, seemingly to soothe her.

Ms. Sunshine, however, tucked her hands in the pocket on both sides of her long doctor lab coat that fell to her knees; her wrinkled face shook as she uttered.

"I don't know too, maybe it was out of shock from information overload", she uttered as she similarly reached out her hand; the dorsal surface of her hand touched Hiraya's forehead as she checked her.

And it was at this moment that Hiraya fell out of her trance as her eyes burned with coldness, glancing at Ms. Sunshine who flinched from her sudden movement. Her cold lips moved discreetly as she threatened.

"Don't touch me", she uttered as she then shifted her gaze at Lily who was standing with her mouth agape, her eyes knitted as she didn't know what happened to Hiraya.

The change in her tone and expression was just too uncanny to witness.

With Hiraya's cold gaze meeting Lily's questioning eyes, Hiraya uttered.

"And you, don't treat me as if you know me. I am not your daughter.", she uttered as her gaze then glanced at the room, gradually scanning its entirety.

Lily retracted her hand from Hiraya's back as she felt her heart ache from what she heard. Indeed, she didn't know Hiraya that much and had treated her like her daughter.

She didn't expect Hiraya to feel that way inwardly.

Touching the palm of her hand as Lily lowered her gaze, her eyes quivered as she had already witnessed this similar scenario before. A silhouette of a little girl who looked identical to Lily sitting on an infirmary bed as she gazed at Lily coldly; her pale lips stabbed Lily's heart with her cold words.

"Stop treating me like a kid, I don't need a motherly figure. So stop with your bullshit acts, it's disgusting"

As Lily fell into a daze, Hiraya's cold voice, with no hint of leisure at all, resounded, pulling Lily out of her trance.

"You said that you need me to lead this guild, but…", Hiraya paused as she glanced at Lily, her cold eyes glanced at her from head to toe as she blinked and heaved a sigh.

"But, what do I get in return?", Hiraya added, her voice uncanny as she spoke to Lily.

"This—"

Hearing her words, the Vice Captain opened her eyes wildly as her body jolted towards Hiraya. She couldn't believe what she just heard. With her hand grabbing Hiraya's shirt on its collar, she tightened her grasp as Ms. Sunshine stumbled on one corner from the Vice Captain's bumping on her.

"You!!! Repeat your words and I will kill you", the Vice Captain spoke, threat visible in her tone as her mouth quivered from fury. She couldn't bear Hiraya mocking Lily with her cold gaze scanning Lily from head to toe, and much more, her uncanny words towards Lily made her snap and attack Hiraya.

Hiraya however remained unfazed as she shifted her gaze from Lily to the Vice Captain, with a cold voice she muttered.

"I hate being touched, I hope you will let go of me, Ms. Nobody", she uttered as she extended her hand, and a large Bird, Minokawa came rushing into the room, his sharp beak shattered the glass panes as his eyes stared at the Vice Captain who soared into madness deeper as she glanced at Minokawa.

"You dare!!!", raising her hand into the air as she was about to slap Hiraya, Minokawa bared his scorched tongue with sparks visible in his throat as he roared erratically. The broken glass pieces came darting into the room relentlessly as violent air swept the room.

ROARRRRR

"STOP!!! Silvia!"

An ear-splitting scream from Lily resounded as Silvia's hand was about to strike Hiraya's face, a sharp beak permeates the broken wall as it was one meter away from Silvia's head, steam swelled from the widely-opened beak.

Her face quivering in rage, Silvia shifted her gaze to Lily who had her face lowered as she embraced her body, sharp fragments of glass pierced her body on multiple corners as blood dripped on them, dyeing the tiled floor red.

With a small glass fragment piercing her mouth, Lily spoke, sending the glass deeper into her soft lips.

"STOP!... She is right… she may be the daughter of the Empress but…", taking a pause, Lily raised her head, revealing an apologetic face as she glanced at Hiraya who now turned her gaze to her; her gaze still as cold as ever, looking at Lily as if she was nothing but dust.

"But… they are different", Lily muttered as her lips quivered in a split second. Unveiling her pinkish tongue as she concealed her quivering lips, she licked the blood off her mouth; her eyes blinked as she suppressed her tears. She was on verge of crying.

After composing herself in a matter of second, Lily spoke once more, this time her face restored its gentleness as she suddenly bowed her head.

"Captain—", the Vice Captain uttered as she flinched at the sight of Lily bowing her head.

Lily overshadowed her worried voice as she shouted in a firm voice.

"I'm sorry for misinterpreting the situation, New Empress. I'm too shortsighted and didn't consider your situation. You may be the daughter of the late Empress but dragging you into our path of revenge that may cost you your life was too insensitive of me.", she announced as she bowed her head deeper. Then as silence seized minutes of their time, with the Vice Captain and Ms. Sunshine surprised by her words, Lily raised her head as she glanced at Hiraya who didn't respond to her sincerest apology.

Lily was about to lose her composure again upon seeing Hiraya's face that remain deadpan despite her words, with a profound gulp, she continued.

"As for the compensation for leading us, I can assure you of an SSS-grade item, an SSS-grade tameable beast, and S-grade Tower Clearance data owned by the guild.", Lily declared as she terminated her direct eye contact with Hiraya, her gaze had fallen to the between of her brows. Lily couldn't stand seeing Hiraya's cold gaze for that long, she thought that she would definitely burst into tears had she looked more.

Hiraya blinked her eyes as she pondered. The compensation was indeed tempting since SSS-grade items and monsters were inherently scarce, much more the S-grade Tower Clearance data that would give her a higher starting ground than others with relevant information on how to clear the floors and get the highest rating possible. Hiraya nodded her head discreetly as she muttered.

"That is an enticing offer but, how about my wage? Arimaonga guild must have a lot of Karma points, right?", Hiraya asked as she stared at the stunned Lily, her eyes making sure to lock gaze with Lily.

Silvia however, snapped again as she heard her words. She couldn't believe that Hiraya would ask for more despite the already absurd offer.

"How dare you—", she exclaimed as she raised her hand once more, Minokawa's beak pouncing closer to her head, but Lily's shout stopped her again.

"STOP!!! THE MOMENT YOU HURT OUR NEW EMPRESS… I WILL KILL YOU", Lily's enraged voice echoed.

Silvia couldn't help but turn limped at her threat. It was evident in her voice that she was not fooling around. Lily would kill her and that was for sure.

Gulp

Releasing a gulp, Silvia lowered her head in shame as she loosened her grip on Hiraya's collar, her eyes running with tears as her nose throbbed as she took a deep breath. Ms. Sunshine who now stood up, touched Silvia as she pulled her away from Hiraya, the butterfly behind her flapped its wings with somber.

"Now back to our discussion, as for wages, I'm afraid that we can't provide you with much of Karma points as we are still recovering from the war. We also cannot ask for those on the higher floors as they have their pressing issues to expand on. We can only provide you with 50,000 Karma points monthly but we promise to increase it once our guild has rehabilitated and regained our past glory", Lily muttered.

Hiraya nodded her head as she strayed her gaze away from Lily, looking at the room as she commanded.

"Then we have an agreement, I will expect you to process my enthronement the soonest time possible. I also need your promised compensation later this evening, I will start climbing the floor the day after tomorrow", Hiraya muttered as Lily responded with a "Noted", then left the room as she bowed her head to Hiraya, her back reflecting somberly as she walked towards the door. Hiraya didn't even bat an eye at this.

After reluctantly bowing their heads too, Ms. Sunshine and Silvia left the room with the butterfly flying behind them, their bloodied bodies pierced by glass fragments, leaving trails of blood on the devastated floor.

"Captain", closing the door as they left, Silvia sprinted towards Lily who was running away from the scene.

Tapping on Lily's back as Silvia caught up with her, Lily flinched as she motioned her wrist to her face, seemingly to wipe her tears, then she turned to Silvia.

"What is it, Silvia?", Lily asked

Silvia took a breather first as she brushed off the enraged complexion of Lily from earlier, painting it anew with the gentle expression like now.

"Captain, the Arimaonga Guild on the 10th floor doesn't have any SSS-item in our treasury anymore, a much more tameable beast. We only have 2 SSS-grade items and 3 SSS-grade beasts and they were all owned by yours", Silvia stated

"I know"

Lily replied with a soft smile as she looked at Silvia knitting her brows. Silvia then asked. "Then how are you going to compensate her? It cant be…", she asked as she thought of the worst scenario.

Since Lily was the sole member with SSS-grade items in the Guild on the 10th floor and below, then there was only one justification for this.

"I have no choice, I have to give her my item and tamed beast.", Lily muttered as she then walked closer to Silvia, her faint breath puffing at the latter.

"Remember, Silvia, she is still the daughter of the Empress, it is our duty to ensure that she would climb floors and hand her off to the guild members on the 11th floor, till then…", she paused as she glanced at the room they were at, her eyes squint with determination.

"till that time comes, we have to do our best to support her.", she added.

—--

Meanwhile, left alone in the room, Hiraya untucked her feet from the sheet as she slid her feet off the bed, touching the tiled floor with her toes.

Walking into the room as her feet bled with glass spikes piercing her bare feet, Hiraya kept her deadpan expression as she made her way to the right side of the room, a single portrait covered with golden streaks hung on the wall.

Glancing at the woman in the portrait, Hiraya reached out her hand as she touched the portrait, caressing the face of the woman as she felt nothing but the rough surface of the sketched portrait.

A hint of yearning flashed in her eyes as she looked at the girl who was smiling softly, her blue eyes shone with hope as her golden hair suspended in the air seemingly blown by the wind when the portrait was being sketched.

It was astonishing how the girl looked exactly like Hiraya.

"Mother…", Hiraya muttered as she finally discerned what her mother looks like. The mother she had secretly yearned to meet.

The overload of information from earlier stimulate the repressed memories of Hiraya to be undone, and at the cost of regaining her memories, Hiraya lost her consciousness for hours, and her past, burrowed pain had now resurfaced.

She remembered how her father molested her…

How she had to survive under the lustful gazes of every man she met.

She remembered how she partied at his father's funeral…

Her longing for her mother had resurfaced along with the traumas. Longing that now deteriorated into hatred.

And lastly, she remembered how her gentle and cheerful side had been distorted to a cold and brutal Hiraya.

Pulling a shard of glass that pierced her waist earlier as blood gushed out like a spring, bringing horror to the gloomy room, Hiraya held the shard as she raised it upwards, meeting the same level as the smiling face of the woman in the portrait.

With a deadpan look, Hiraya shoved the shard to the head of the girl as with a screeching sound, it was slashed downwards, cutting the face of the woman in half. Her smile cut to two pieces, revealing eerie vibes for the onlookers.

Then with another pullout and shoving of the shard, Hiraya slashed down in the opposite direction, creating an "X" in the face of the woman, her hands clenching the shard tightly as it penetrated the flesh in her palm, sending a spath of blood to the destroyed portrait as blood dripped from the head to her waist.

Hiraya now felt satisfied as she let go of the shard, hitting the ground as it broke again into smaller pieces, her blood dyeing each piece red.

Still with her deadpan look, Hiraya uttered.

"Crazy bitch doesn't deserve to be avenged", she muttered before she finally walked out of the room, her bloodied feet turning purple as blood gushed out of her waist.